July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. is planning to
name its $69,000 fuel-cell car Mirai, the Japanese word for
future, a person familiar with the matter said.

The person asked not to be identified because the decision
hasn’t been made public. The name of the car will be unveiled
closer to when it goes on sale, said Danny Chen, a company
spokesman, declining to comment on Mirai, which has been
trademarked by Toyota in the U.S.

The maker of the Prius hybrid is betting that consumers
will embrace fuel-cell cars over pure-electric vehicles, pushed
by Nissan Motor Co. and Tesla Motors Inc. Toyota plans a sticker
price of about 7 million yen ($69,000) for its first model based
on the technology, which which go on sale in Japan before April.

With Prius, named after a Latin word meaning “to go
before,” the Toyota City, Japan-based carmaker remains the
dominant player in the global market for hybrid vehicles that
run on both gasoline and electricity. Chairman Takeshi
Uchiyamada, known within the company as the father of the Prius,
said in October that hybrids including Prius are a “long
bridge” to future technologies, including fuel cells.